Surprised that no one has commented on the Shaw takeover of Can-West and Global hearings before the CRTC this past week or did I miss it. Notwithstanding the usual amount of BS required by the CRTC one interesting item caught the eye of the chair. Remember all the discussion about the 33 thousand or so viewers of OTA who get forgotten in the digital transition.....well Shaw has proposed giving them free receivers and dishes in order not to be without television alltogether. The Vonchair got really excited and almost indicated with that and a few other little license conditions a positive decision would be given in 35 days. Not really but it sounded that way. As usual for Jim Shaw a few more details would have to be worked out.

I doubt it going to be approved but if it get approved, it will be under strict conductions by request from Telus. Merging TV stations with Cable Company, We have to find out in 35 days if it going ahead or if it getting denied.

Why wouldn't it be approved? Rogers already owns a network of TV stations, Shaw already owns a few, Quebecor owns a lot, and Bell is putative owner of CTV. There's no basis for the CRTC to deny Shaw given the holdings of Rogers, Quebecor, Bell and others.

As for the free terminals, no one ever said Jim Shaw was dumb. It's one heck of a ploy to ease tensions between Shaw and the CRTC in general (they've been spanked more than once in recent years) and it addresses an important issue without the federal government having to kick in money like the US government did.

There is no way this doesn't get approved. If the CRTC does any thing to slow this down Harper will over rule it for his buddy. As for TELUS I expect their merger with Bell to be the next one after these mergers are approved.

There is no way this doesn't get approved. If the CRTC does any thing to slow this down Harper will over rule it for his buddy.

He can't do that, the CRTC is an independent body. He can huff and puff and push and bully everyone at the CRTC as much as he likes, and if they fall to him, then damn we're screwed, but if they stand up to him through it all, there's not really anything he can do.

IIRC, the head of the CRTC is appointed by the ruling government. He can be replaced but it might have political repercussions. Personally, I think Harper should replace the whole bunch of them and give the CRTC a new mandate. For starters, how about serving all the citizens of Canada and not just helping Canadian broadcasters to build empires at the expense of Canadians TV viewers?

Before we get too far off topic … here's a friendly reminder that a long-running CRTC rant thread exists here:The Official I Hate The CRTC Thread
Now, back to discussion about CRTC proceedings relating directly to Shaw's takeover of Global TV.

He probably did the math. Cheaper to pay installer and for dish than to build/operate more digital OTA transmitters. He can get the 505s for nothing (as Shaw Direct upgrades HD Sports/Movies/French to MPEG4 in 2011).

The customer would only get local Global in SD and Toronto in HD for free.

This is also a dress rehearsal for the Bell buyout of CTV, so these OTA people could get both Shaw + Bell satellite systems for free

This thread is not for a discussion of general CRTC policy or the Commission itself. As downbeat already posted, we have a place for that discussion. This thread is for issues relating to Shaw and the CRTC, specifically the recent application and hearing relating to Shaw's proposed CanWest takeover. Several off-topic posts deleted.

As was mentioned earlier, Shaw has agreed to convert all their Global stations to digital, even those not required, now talk about kissing up to the CRTC? Anyhow, I expect it to be approved sooner than later and don't think Telus' crying is going to do much good. Heck, they can complain about exclusive rights all they want, but it's Bell, not Shaw that seems like a bigger threat in that respect and even Telus is being hypocritical about that because they have exclusive rights with the CFL.

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